Intercultural Life

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We share the story of our baby, Yul Theodore, arriving early.

He is currently still in the NICU, but was doing really well when we visited today. It’s a weird limbo to be in. We have a baby, but he can’t come home with us yet. At the moment our lives revolve around going to the hospital every day, and I’m also constantly pumping at home while recovering from the c-section.

We have been overwhelmed by the messages of support from everyone and surprised at how many people genuinely care about us. When we realised people would worry when we didn’t update on Instagram on some days we wanted to share more of our story, especially because many people have been through something similar.

We wanted to create a space in the YouTube comments where people could share their stories, not only about having a premature baby, but also being in an international relationship in situations like this. Since we were originally told Yul would only be in the hospital for 1 week to 10 days, my parents flew over from Australia to see him. Unfortunately, he has had to stay a lot longer, so they can’t see him much. They will be flying back over a bit later though.

When we realised how much Hugh has vlogged at the hospital we knew we could put together a video to share with you guys. We mentioned IVF in this video and that’s something we also vlogged so eventually there will be a video about our IVF journey too.

It’s been a very difficult and unusual time. We are excited and happy to finally have a baby, but it’s distressing and heartbreaking to not be able to take him home yet.

It was hard to put together this video but I’m glad we did because it’s a record for us, and something our families can watch too. We can film a lot, but if we don’t edit and put it together in a video like this then footage eventually gets lost and memories fade. I’m glad we have a record like this even though it can be hard to do.

This is a quick update…. our baby arrived early! I had an emergency C-section last Thursday. So we welcomed our son Yul Theodore to the world. Because he is so early he is in the NICU for a little while.

We update most days on social media, especially Instagram, so please follow on there if you’d like to know more. The blog and YouTube channel is likely to be quiet for a little while. Once he can come home and we are settled we’ll talk more about our experiences and introduce our son properly.

Big thank you to everyone who has been sending lovely messages and supportive comments.

Nepalese Spicy Noodle Challenge!

All sorts of spicy food challenges have been popular in Korea in recent years. Seriously, why do people do this to themselves? Well, here is a new one.

Thukpa is a noodle soup originally from Tibet and the Northern part of Nepal. The Nepalese version is spicier as it has chili powder and masala in it. The restaurant ‘Yeti’ in Seoul is somewhere that Hugh hangs out a lot and this is kind of a secret menu item but now they have decided to make it a challenge. For those brave enough to try it. No exaggerated reactions here, it really is that spicy!

This was right after Hugh had done his big transformation so he ate this after only eating vegetables, chicken breast and sweet potatoes for a few weeks. I’m surprised he didn’t burn a hole in his stomach. Poor Joel has already ruined his stomach from the challenges Josh and Ollie from the Korean Englishman channel have made him do. Alex was the one that did the best on this challenge. Even Gambhir, the owner, bailed before Alex did!

We are curious to see if anyone can win this challenge as it’s not only a lot to eat, but it’s just so spicy. Everyone attempts the Korean spicy noodles challenge but this is a whole other level. Let us know if you try it!

Our baby has been moving around a lot these days. While it’s so exciting earlier on in the pregnancy, and it’s still amazing now, some nights I do wish he would settle down a bit. Apparently he will soon as he gets too big to move around as much and moves downwards ready for birth.

Hugh will put his face up to my belly and get him to kick his face, a trick that hopefully the baby won’t do later!